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Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Hello again! I'm back today to share my second November layout for Simple Stories. Like my previous layout, I used the Gather Together Simple Set. Although it's centered around Thanksgiving Dinner, I went a different route and made a layout about my grandmother and daughter. I first began with white cardstock and a very old lined stencil. I smudged some Shimmerz Texturez & Dazzlerz in a deep red brick color and a dark leafy green. Once that dried, I used the packaging technique with some Shimmerz sprays in red, brown and green. I also used some gold Heidi Swapp Color Shine.

I used patterned papers behind my photos and one of the stickers as my title. I fussy cut the heart cluster at the bottom. After I planned all that, I had the idea to add a cut file. I'm so glad I did because it changed the look of the entire page for the better! It's gorgeous....it's from the Just Nick store. I cut it once on white cardstock and again on green patterned paper. I trimmed the circle part off the green cut and added it to the leaves of the white cut. I love how it looks! I machine stitched with brown thread around the circle.

Here you can see the background texture from the paste and the lovely die cut. I love working with circles like this because it automatically gives you somewhere to ground your photos. And it brings your eye right to the middle. I did add some brown tangled thread under the sides of the photos as well.

This sticker was perfect for a title. I also added another sticker and stitched through it with gold thread. The plaid patterned paper is really busy, so I just tore a small piece off to use as a messy layer.

I love how the leaves on the cut file curled up as I pulled them off the cutting mat. And since I added the green paper on top of the white, it made it a little thicker and more dimensional.

I also added tangled thread under the heart cluster and stitched through it. I love the pop of color it gives down here at the bottom.

I did film this process, so here's the video if you'd like to see how I created this from start to finish. I hope you enjoy and are inspired!

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Happy Tuesday! I'm back today to share another layout in my Using Older Supplies series I'm doing on my YouTube channel. I've been trying to work through some of my older stash of supplies the past few months, and this is the tenth layout & video in the series. I plan to keep on doing these in between all of my design team work.

For this layout, I used lots of older My Mind's Eye products. I used pieces from Sweetest Thing, Lime Twist, Collectable, Caroline & Follow Your Heart. I went through and picked out some stickers & die cuts that jumped out at me first. Then I sorted through all the papers and chose this light grey and white dotted paper as my background. In my video you'll see how much MME stuff I have...and it's all in a big pile together! Craziness, I tell ya.

I started working on how I wanted to layer some of those big doilie-type floral stickers. I combined cardstock stickers with some chipboard flowers and used a few patterned papers as layers behind my photo. I used white gesso on the background and Shimmerz Paints in matching colors.

I was in the mood to do a lot of layering, so I created my own pink and yellow color scheme with all the pieces I could find and began layering. I decided to add in that deeper shad of purple as well from the Lime Twist collection. I added in some machine stitching as well as lots of tangled thread.

To create this bottom cluster, I combined fussy cut patterned paper with stickers, chipboard, brads, thread and sequins. I love how this came together! That purple paper is from one of those 12x12 shaped papers, and the flowers are from a 6x6 Paper Pad. You never know how different collections will look together until you pull them all out and really look at them next to each other.

More layering here. I love the mix of chipboard with cardstock stickers. I found so many stickers and pieces that coordinated. I machine stitched right onto my photo as well as through some of the stickers.

I did add a few Simple Stories Carpe Diem planner stickers in a few places, like the round yellow one at the top here. They just add an extra pop of color here and there. I'm in love with these sequins...the color is just so pretty and matches so well.

I decided to go light for my journaling so I used a silver gel pen. I like how subtle it is. I usually use a black pen, so this was a nice change and kept things soft.

Here's one more close-up of the layering. I added in that cute chipboard butterfly from Follow Your Heart, and that purple circle is the outline of a sticker that I had already used. I fussy cut around it on the sticker sheet and added it in because it was a fun shape and just the right color.

Here's my process video of this layout coming together from start to finish. I hope you enjoy and get some fun ideas!

Sunday, November 27, 2016

Hey friends! I'm back again today to share another layout for Hip Kit Club. This is my second page using the beautiful 2016 November Hip Kits. As you probably have already seen, they are chock full of holiday and Winter themed products. I decided to embrace it and scrap these adorable pictures of Paige in her bear jacket from a few years ago. It was Reese's until she outgrew it, and then Paige wore it. I'll probably never give it away because it's so adorable with the little ears and everything!

I printed my photos in a horizontal photo strip and layered them with a few of the December Documented 3x4 cards and a few pieces of patterned paper. I went big with my background design. I cut one of Tiffany's snowflake cut files on my Cameo and then traced it onto my background paper. The background paper is a Kim Watson exclusive from the DD Kit. I used a big flat brush to paint white gesso all around the edges of the snowflake until it was cloudy and faded. Then I used the Shimmerz Coloringz Well Blue Me Down from the Color Kit to paint inside the snowflake. That was the point when I realized the edges needed to be hand-stitched! I love the crisp edges and texture it gives. It did take me over an hour, but it was worth it. I love how it looks! If I had known I was going to hand stitch from the beginning, I would have just used my Cameo sketch pens to draw the snowflake instead of me cutting it and tracing it.

Here you can see the amazing texture from the stitching. I used the Dazzlerz Foiled Again on top of the white die cut snowflakes to give them a little color & shine and then tucked them into my layers. I used one of the exclusive flair buttons as well.

For my title, I fussy cut "wonderful" from one of the DD cards and stitched through it with silver thread. I added some of the silver glitter Thickers and an exclusive die cut with tangled teal thread under it. I love the mix of alphas and colors! I stayed with the vertical stacking and added an exclusive phrase sticker and then my journaling.

Here's another look at all the texture, layering and dimension. I added in lots of tangled thread as well as some of the sequins from the kit. To color in the snowflake with the Coloringz, I used a brush and my finger to smudge the liquid around.

Here's the top of the photo strip...lots of layers, stickers...even a strip of the exclusive washi tape. I love how the hand stitching and machine stitching looks together.

Here's one more look at the title area. These colors are so pretty together!

Here's my process video for this page...I hope you enjoy and get some fun ideas from it!

Saturday, November 26, 2016

Happy Saturday, everyone! I'm back today to share one of my monthly layouts for Simple Stories. I worked with the Gather Together Simple Set for this page. The Simple Sets are small collections with only six patterned papers and one sticker sheet. This collection centers around Thanksgiving Dinner, but I thought outside the box and made it work for this sweet photo of my two grandmothers chatting at my house during a birthday party.

I started with some light kraft cardstock as my base and a beautiful leaf cut file from the Just Nick store. I used a few pieces of the papers to back the leaves. I love that orange color...so pretty and so Fall :) I used some white gesso on my background and then used the packaging technique with some Shimmerz Paints to create a pretty watercolor effect. All of these Fall colors are so pretty together, and they have such a homey feeling.

Backing a cut file is super easy to do, and it always looks great. When you use a larger one like this, it helps your layout come together quicker because the bulk of your design is done. I used a bit of gold Shimmerz to tint those little dots on the leaves. I also used a few leaf stickers from the sticker sheet here on the corner of a piece that I cut from paper.

For my title, I used some alphas from the Snap Bold Stickers pack. The colors matched this collection perfectly. To finish them off and add a pop of gold shine, I machine stitched through each word. I also added a few phrase stickers from the other Fall collection Hello Fall.

I added some tangled thread around the photo and also a few sentiment stickers. I used some tissue paper and a few pieces of patterned paper as layers behind the photo.

I'm so pleased with how this turned out. I think the colors are so pretty, and they really make the cut file stand out.

Friday, November 25, 2016

Happy Friday, friends! I hope all my American friends had a lovely Thanksgiving yesterday. Our family did, and we are hanging out at home today instead of shopping! I thought I'd hop on and share my newest layout & process video for Bella Blvd. This week we focused on using the 6x8 Paper Pads. I love using those smaller papers for lots of things, but one thing that jumps into my head is using them to back cut files. That's what I did here. I used this beautiful heart cut file from the Just Nick store. I cut it on white cardstock and then used 6x8 papers from the Illustrated Faith You Are Loved, Bright & Brave, Addison and Alex collections. Using so many papers gives you a chance to use lots of colors & patterns in small doses. I went with lots of colors on this since my sweet photo has lots of oranges and pinks. My background paper is from She is Loved...isn't it so pretty?

Another great thing about the 6x8 papers is the patterns are smaller than the larger papers. This floral paper here is a great example. The flowers here are smaller but a lot bigger on the 12x12 paper. I added some foam adhesive to the back to raise it up a bit and then added different colors of tangled thread all over the page. That cut floral cluster is from the Clear Cuts pad. I fussy cut it out. It's sheets of patterned acetate meant for Bible journaling, but you can certainly use them on layouts. I also did some watercolor work on the background. I used the new IF Watercolors to add some shades of orange and pink to the background.

Here's another Clear Cut that I used for part of my title. I also used some of the 6x8 papers as layers behind my photo. That's another great thing to use them for...layering.

I used a few of the cardstock stickers from You Are Loved here as well as a Clear Cut heart that I cut out and stapled to my photo. I also did some machine stitching through the cut file before I stuck it down. I used different colored threads to stitch through the bigger hearts that I didn't back.

I dug into the Paper Pieces package of die cuts and used a few of those for embellishing. I love the pops of black around the page. Black always contrasts so nicely against all the bright colors. I pulled a few stickers from the Fundamentals sheet like that cute yellow tab on top of the photo.

Here's one more close-up. I just love backing cut files! And when you have a beautiful cut file like this one, it makes is even more fun!

I do have a process video for this layout...I hope you enjoy it! It's also posted on the Bella Blvd YouTube channel, so go check that out, too!

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Hey, friends! I have something fun to share today.....a layout and a GIVEAWAY! Yes! The owner of Freckled Fawn contacted me and asked if was interested in doing a Kit Share video on my YouTube channel and a giveaway. Of course I said yes! I chose the 2016 August Embellishment Kit to work with. You can see what is in this kit in my Kit Share video below. I also included to process to making this layout.

The giveaway is open to anyone, and all you have to do is be a subscriber to my YouTube channel and leave a comment telling me which item in the kit is your favorite. The giveaway will run through November 30th, and then I'll randomly choose a winner and announce it next week. Woo hoo!! The prize is a $50 GIFT CARD to Freckled Fawn! That's a huge prize!

Here's the page I created using mostly the August Kit. I used a fun oval die cut from the Just Nick store. I attached it to white cardstock and then added some Shimmerz sprays in coordinating colors. I love how the ink looks over the cut file! Great effect. I layered the big acetate words over the sprays. I tucked in lots of fun embellishments...those emoji pieces and stickers are my favorite!

I added in some tangled thread in matching colors for extra texture, color and shading. I also used some of the label washi tapes and added some stamping to them. I used a grey ink that was a little lights, so I traced over it with a black Sharpie. I also added in a few MAMBI and Tim Holtz stickers from my stash.

Aren't these emojis the cutest?! They make the cutest embellishments. They are perfect for photos of my very animated child...haha!

These big acetate words are awesome for titles. Those diamonds are from the cardstock sticker sheet, and I stitched through them with white thread. I added in a few more MAMBI & Tim Holtz stickers from my stash and did some black machine stitching. I love how the white die cut looks on the white cardstock. Very subtle yet lots of texture and interest.

I love the flair in this kit! There are two square pieces and they have foam adhesive on the back. I wish I had a whole container full of just these! Here you can see more of the stitching detail.

Finally, here's one last close up of the top. I love all this teal!

So be sure to visit my YouTube channel and leave a comment on this video on or before November 30th to be entered to win the $50 prize!

Monday, November 21, 2016

Happy Monday, y'all! It's the first day of Thanksgiving Break, so yay for not-so-busy Mondays! I thought I'd hop on to share my newest layout for the Shimmerz Education Team using lots of yummy Shimmerz products, the new Pink Paislee Moonstruck collection and coffee filters. Yes! Coffee filters! If you watch our weekly Shimmerz Shortz videos, then you saw how I used various Shimmerz sprays on coffee filters to create pretty leaves and feathers. I did the same thing here for these hearts, but I used more than just sprays this time. I used some of the original Shimmerz Paints, some Creameez and Inklingz and lots of sprays. One of my favorite things about Shimmerz is that it's easy to customize your color scheme. That's what I did for these hearts...I chose lots of colors that matched these beautiful Moonstruck papers and went to work.

All I did was flatten out the coffee filters on top of some paper towels and then started applying all the paint. I sprayed, I brushed, I added water...basically just making a mess :) The coffee filters are pretty tough and had no problems holding all the liquids. I even blasted them with my heat gun and they turned out great. Once they were dry, I pulled out my Cuttlebug and an old Sizzix heart die cut and ran them through it. They cut beautifully!! I was rather excited to see how well they did. Then I stitched through them with my sewing machine and as you can see, they held up wonderfully. I used some Glorious Day Vibez on my background here. I used the packaging technique. I also added in a mix of Creameez Cheeky Pink and Inklingz Mochachino. These colors alone are just gorgeous, but when you mix them together something magical happens!

I went small and subtle with my title. I used one of the Moonstruck die cuts here with a small coffee filter heart under it. I added several rub-ons, a pink clear sticker, and then I added a few Tim Holtz phrase stickers and my date.

I mostly used die cuts from Moonstruck for my layers here. I used a few 6x6 papers behind my photos, and I used lots of the pretty rub-ons. I also added in some tangled thread in a dark teal color.

Aren't these hearts so pretty? I used so many colors on all of them. I'll list all the colors at the end, and you can also see which color is where in my process video down below. I talk about the colors as I'm using them. For these two hearts, I added some foam under them to raise them up.

I used my craft knife on these flowers to separate them from the bigger piece so I could tuck my photo under them. I didn't want to cover them up! Look at the shimmer on that heart....so pretty!

Here's one last close-up of the top area. I love the shimmy gold from the Glorious Day Vibez. That teal color is Coloringz Well Blue Me Down.

I hope you love this as much as I do...making shapes out of coffee filters is my new favorite thing! They almost act like a fabric vellum if that makes sense. I love how they hold the color and how easy they are to cut. They make excellent embellishments, and you can use whatever colors you want and make whatever shape you want! It doesn't get any better than that....woo hoo!

Here's my process video so you can see exactly how to do this with the coffee filters. I hope you enjoy!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a great weekend! ** Stay tuned to social media this week for a few BIG SALES coming for Black Thursday!! Lots of opportunities to buy some gorgeous Shimmerz goodies!!**

Sunday, November 20, 2016

Hey friends! I hope you're enjoying your weekend :) Today I'm sharing the first layout I created using the 2016 November Hip Kits from Hip Kit Club. This was shared last Monday on the HKC Facebook page. I can't say enough how gorgeous these kits are. There are a lot of exclusives this month...papers, stickers, Project Life cards, die cuts, flair...you name it. There is also a lot of Crate Paper Snow & Cocoa and some Pinkfresh Studio. I'm so thrilled that there is a lot of aqua and pink in the mix. I used a lot of that here on this page.

This gorgeous background paper is a Kim Watson exclusive. I just had to use it...isn't it gorgeous? It's available in the Main Kit & Paper Kit. I went with a horizontal design. My two photos are of Paige from a few years ago on Christmas Eve sporting her adorable pink Santa hat (that she wore for about a minute...haha). My theme for this page was to get creative with ephemera, so I created somewhat of a landscape around the photos. I used several tree die cuts, one cut from a PL card and several die cut trees from one of Irit's cut files for November. I painted them gold with Vibez Glorious Day (from last month's Color Kit). I used that same Vibez on the background as well as some of the Coloringz Well Blue Me Down from this month's Color Kit. I also added in some pink spray from my stash. The first piece I picked out to use on this page was that cute polar bear tag. He's just the cutest!

I stacked all these trees around the bear and then added in that adorable acetate deer. Those are from the December Documented Kit this month. Those shiny gold acrylic shapes are from Pinkfresh Studio, and they're gorgeous! The cute cut apart phrases are exclusives. I added some foam adhesive behind some of the trees to create dimension.

These are probably my most favorite Hip Kit alphas ever! They're both manufactured by Pinkfresh Studio, but the pink ones are exclusives to this Hip Kit. I love the gold foiling! The flair is exclusive and so is the washi tape below the title. And don't forget about those sequins! There really is an overload of beauty in all the pieces this month. I stitched through those alphas without any problems, so if you like to do that, go for it!

I added another cute flair here with some gold thread under it, a strip of Pinkfresh washi, and another exclusive phrase. I also added plain white tissue paper under my pictures.

Here you can see even more detail. I added several puffy snowflake stickers...again, they're exclusive! This gorgeous "Merry" piece is from the Pinkfresh acrylics. I added in some cord to the bear tag and also some pink thread under it.

This cute snowman is on the exclusive puffy sticker sheet. This 24 tag is part of the December Documented Kit this month. There is a whole pack of calendar numbers. I don't do the DD, so I used it as an embellishment since these were taken on Christmas Eve.

One last close-up of the top left area...more splatters, more stickers & sequins and more cut apart phrases. There are so many little things to embellish with this month! It's hard to stop!

Here's my process video for this page...I hope you enjoy and perhaps get some fun ideas!

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About Me

Hey there! I'm Missy from sunny Florida USA, and I love all things scrapbook related. All the paper, the stickers, the paint...the more the better! I'm married to Marshall and we have two beautiful daughters, Reese & Paige. I also love teaching Les Mills fitness classes, cycling, reading and watching movies. I love documenting my life one photo at a time.